Deep Meditation Pathway to Personal Freedom Yogani From The AYP Enlightenment Series
Copyright 2005 by Yogani All rights reserved. AYP Publishing For ordering information go to: www.advancedyogapractices.com Library of Congress Control Number: 2005936614 Published simultaneously in: Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. and London, England, U.K. This title is also available in ebook format ISBN 0-9764655-5-8 (For Adobe Reader) ISBN 0-9764655-4-X (Paperback) Pathway to Personal Freedom iii
Be still, and know that I am God... Psalm 46:10 iv Deep Meditation
Pathway to Personal Freedom v
Introduction The Advanced Yoga Practices Enlightenment Series is an endeavor to present the most effective methods of yoga in a series of easy-to-read books that anyone can use to gain practical results immediately and over the long term. For centuries, these powerful practices have been taught in secret, mainly in an effort to preserve them. Now we find ourselves in the information age, and able to preserve knowledge for present and future generations like never before. The question remains: How far can we go in effectively transmitting spiritual methods in writing? Since its beginnings in 2003, the writings of Advanced Yoga Practices have been an experiment to see just how much can be conveyed, with much more detail included on practices than in the spiritual writings of the past. Can books provide us the specific means necessary to tread the path to enlightenment, or do we have to surrender at the feet of a guru to find our salvation? Well, clearly we must surrender to something, even if it is to our own innate potential to live a freer and happier life. If we are able to do that, and maintain a daily practice, then books like this one can come alive and instruct us in the vi Deep Meditation
ways of human spiritual transformation. If the reader is ready and the book is worthy, amazing things can happen. While one person s name is given as the author of this book, it is actually a distillation of the efforts of thousands of practitioners over thousands of years. This is one person s attempt to simplify and make practical the spiritual methods that many have demonstrated throughout history. All who have gone before have my deepest gratitude, as do the many I am privileged to be in touch with in the present who continue to practice with dedication and good results. The subject of this volume, Deep Meditation, has special significance in the overall list of yoga practices. No other practice can do more to bring us personal freedom in our daily life. The cultivation of our eternal and unshakable inner silence through daily deep meditation has such far-reaching effects that this practice alone is capable of expanding our experience of life to be unending happiness and creativity. That is why I call deep meditation the heart of yoga. I hope you will find this book to be a useful resource as you travel along your chosen path. Practice wisely, and enjoy! Pathway to Personal Freedom vii
Table of Contents Chapter 1 Who Am I?... 1 Chapter 2 Deep Meditation... 7 How to Meditate... 7 When and Where to Meditate... 11 Questions On Your First Meditation... 14 The Possibilities... 19 Chapter 3 Steps of Progress... 23 Navigating the Path of Inner Purification... 23 Visions and Energy Experiences... 69 The Rise of Inner Silence The Witness... 82 Stillness in Action... 86 Chapter 4 Freedom... 90 Unshakable Inner Silence and Ecstasy... 91 Refinement to Ecstatic Bliss... 95 Expansion of Divine Love in the World... 97 Further Reading and Support... 103 viii Deep Meditation
Chapter 1 Who Am I? The most important question we can ask in this life is, Who am I? Right after that in importance is the question, What am I doing here? Human beings have been asking these two questions since the first thoughts arose in our ancient ancestors. And we are still asking them. Since the beginning, thousands of years ago, much effort has gone into understanding these basic questions about our humanity and to realizing their implications experientially. Practices have been the way by which the experiential component has been cultivated. Chief among practices has been something called meditation. Meditation has meant different things to different people. In English dictionaries only a few decades ago, meditation was defined simply as to think, or to ponder. Nowadays, there is a deeper understanding, and you can find meditation defined as, a specific way of thinking that leads to mental, emotional and physical balance. Those with a spiritual bent like to take it a step further, saying that meditation leads us to a direct realization of who we are and what we are doing here. How can this be? Pathway to Personal Freedom 1
An effective method of meditation leads us to an experience of profound stillness, an inner silence that defies description. It is an emptiness that is full with peace, creativity and happiness. It is the natural condition of our mind beyond the processes of our thinking. We cannot help but get the feeling when we are in this state that this is who we really are. It feels so much like home. It feels so good. It is not only a mental experience. With effective meditation, every cell in our body is brought to a state of profound living stillness. Many of the symptoms of this stillness, this inner silence in our body, are measurable the whole metabolism slows down along with the mind. The truly dramatic thing about meditation is not that we can sit down with a mental procedure and have a profound experience of stillness, peace and happiness while meditating. It is much more than that kind of transitory experience, which might be viewed as an escape. Meditation, practiced on a regular basis, cultivates our nervous system to sustain the inner silence experienced while meditating increasingly throughout our daily activity, while we are fully engaged in the world. Not only do we get a glimpse of our true self during meditation, but we are also 2 Deep Meditation
cultivating it as a full time experience in our life. This has huge implications for the quality of our life, with practical benefits reaching into every aspect of our self-perception, relationships and career. While the procedure of meditation can be very pleasurable, the real reason we do it is for the long term benefits in our life. Meditation is a powerful path that leads to personal freedom. Ultimately, meditation answers the two perennial questions: Who am I? I am the silent awareness standing behind all this. What am I doing here? I am here to grow into full awareness of my true nature, which is peace, creativity and happiness. Since the beginning, human beings have wondered not only about the true nature of themselves, but also about the nature of the world and cosmos around them. So many mysteries! For thousands of years we have been slowly cracking the codes of Mother Nature. Modern applied science provides the most visible evidence of our progress in understanding the workings of our universe. Where we used to ride on horses, now we ride in automobiles, trains and airplanes. Where we used to communicate via messengers on foot, flag-waving Pathway to Personal Freedom 3
and smoke signals, now we send billions of invisible bits of information across the surface of the earth and through the vacuum of outer space. Where we used to experience diseases that periodically threatened the very survival of civilization, now we are able to preempt or quickly cure most illnesses with our rapidly expanding knowledge of bioscience and genetics. It has taken a huge accumulation of knowledge over the centuries to accomplish these things. In the theoretical science of quantum physics, we have come to the brink of defining the omnipresence and unlimited potential of consciousness itself. It is here that our experience of inner silence rising in meditation intersects with the view that all things are, in fact, the manifestation of one thing an unbounded field of consciousness. It is only a small step we take in postulating that the unifying essence of all is none other than the living stillness we experience during and after our meditation practice. This is the ultimate answer to the question, Who am I? I am the essence of everything, and everything that is manifest is the essence of me. What are the qualities of this so-called unbounded field of consciousness that is behind 4 Deep Meditation
everything we see? We can find out by practicing meditation. As we experience more of our inner nature through daily meditation, we find that our desires and conduct gradually rise to a higher level than they were before. Our longings become more attuned with an inner unfoldment. No longer do we doubt what we are here for. We come to know that we have come here to live the truth within us in every aspect of our life. No longer do we struggle with moral issues or how we should conduct ourselves in our affairs. We come to know that right action comes from an inner perspective. Love and compassion gradually become the foundation of all that we do. Our actions automatically become harmonizing and unifying in their influence in our life and in the lives of those around us. All of this comes from the practice of effective meditation. Fortunately, nothing that has been said here so far has to be taken on faith. Talk is cheap, you know, and results are what will make the difference. Not philosophical arguments. You have heard it all before, yes? We have covered these basics to lay out a rough framework. So now we can move on to something you can get your teeth into, and you can Pathway to Personal Freedom 5
fill in the rest of the picture with your own experience. That is the best approach. The rest of this book is about the practice of meditation a highly effective form we call deep meditation. With the information that is to follow, you can easily find out what the truth is about meditation, about yourself, and about everything else that is going on around you. If we follow the simple daily procedure for deep meditation, we will come to know who we are and what we are doing here. Let s take a closer look 6 Deep Meditation
Chapter 2 Deep Meditation The mind is a machine a thought machine. It produces thoughts all day and throughout much of the night. We experience these endless thoughts in our awareness. The mind itself is not awareness. It is only a machine. We are the awareness. This points to an interesting possibility. If we can bring the thought machine, the mind, to rest, what will we experience? It will be our awareness, our self, minus the incessant activity of the mind. This is what meditation is for, and the consequences of this are far-reaching. How to Meditate Deep meditation is a mental procedure that utilizes the nature of the mind to systematically bring the mind to rest. If the mind is given the opportunity, it will go to rest with no effort. That is how the mind works. Indeed, effort is opposed to the natural process of deep meditation. The mind always seeks the path of least resistance to express itself. Most of the time this is by making more and more thoughts. But it is also possible to create a situation in the mind that turns the path of least resistance into one leading to fewer and fewer thoughts. And, very soon, no Pathway to Personal Freedom 7
Further Reading and Support Yogani is an American spiritual scientist who, for forty years, has been integrating ancient techniques from around the world which cultivate human spiritual transformation. The approach is non-sectarian, and open to all. His books include: Advanced Yoga Practices Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living (Two Volumes) Two large user-friendly textbooks providing over 400 detailed lessons on the AYP integrated system of practices. The Secrets of Wilder A Novel The story of young Americans discovering and utilizing actual secret practices leading to human spiritual transformation. The AYP Enlightenment Series Easy-to-read instruction books on yoga practices, including: - Deep Meditation Pathway to Personal Freedom - Spinal Breathing Pranayama Journey to Inner Space - Tantra Discovering the Power of Pre-Orgasmic Sex - Asanas, Mudras and Bandhas Awakening Ecstatic Kundalini - Samyama Cultivating Stillness in Action, Siddhis and Miracles - Diet, Shatkarmas and Amaroli Yogic Nutrition and Cleansing for Health and Spirit - Self-Inquiry Dawn of the Witness and the End of Suffering - Bhakti and Karma Yoga The Science of Devotion and Liberation Through Action - Eight Limbs of Yoga The Structure and Pacing of Self-Directed Spiritual Practice - Retreats Fast Track to Freedom A Guide for Leaders and Practitioners - Liberation The Fruition of Yoga For up-to-date information on the writings of Yogani, and for the free AYP Support Forums, please visit: www.advancedyogapractices.com